Category Archives: music

September 18, 2017

“Czech Bluegrass: Notes from the Heart of Europe” Video Trailer

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Lee Bidgood offers a fascinating study of the Czech bluegrass phenomenon, merging intimate immersion in the music with on-the-ground fieldwork informed by his life as a working musician. Drawing on his own personal and professional interactions, Bidgood charts how Czech … Continue reading →

August 16, 2017

The King and Us

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This week marks the anniversary of the death (?) of Elvis Presley, a transformative cultural figure of the twentieth or any other century. If you have memories of that afternoon in 1977, you perhaps recall what you were doing when news of … Continue reading →

August 4, 2017

Meeting Jimmy Martin

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In early May 1953, my girlfriend Jean Armstrong suggested I apply in the coffee shop where she worked as a waitress at the Tulane Hotel in Nashville. The hotel was situated on the corner of Eighth Avenue North and Church … Continue reading →

July 10, 2017

The Story of the Concord Sonata

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The following is an excerpt from Kyle Gann’s new book Charles Ives’s Concord: Essays after a Sonata. In January 1921 a prominent insurance executive in New York City sent copies of a piano sonata he had written to hundreds of … Continue reading →

May 15, 2017

200 Years of Illinois: Cal Coolidge, controversy, and Cairo

Posted by rkcunningham
in american history, Illinois / regional, music | Tagged , , | Comments Off on 200 Years of Illinois: Cal Coolidge, controversy, and Cairo

The 1927 Mississippi River flood disaster had a far-reaching social impact, inspired timeless music, influenced policy that includes what happened during Hurricane Katrina, and received its due in at least one very interesting book. It even roused the laissez-faire federal government … Continue reading →

May 11, 2017

Backlist Bop: John Lennon knows politics ain’t easy

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As the tumultuous late Sixties and early Seventies retreat into history, the zeitgeist is steadily sanding the many rough edges off John Lennon in order to enjoy his music without all the bummer stuff. But Lennon in his own time … Continue reading →

April 27, 2017

Backstreet Bop: Rhythm of the rails

Posted by rkcunningham
in African American Studies, american history, Illinois / regional, music | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Backstreet Bop: Rhythm of the rails

On this day in 1947, the City of New Orleans made its first run between the Chicago and the Crescent City on the Illinois Central line. The City traveled the early 921-mile route in the daytime in those days. The Panama Limited was … Continue reading →

April 4, 2017

Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters

Posted by rkcunningham
in Best of Illinois, biography, music | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters

Longing for that down home music? Looking for a shot of brilliance? Tryin’ to forget that you asked for water and your woman/man gave you gasoline? Then you must be celebrating the 100th birthday (or it might be the 102nd birthday) of McKinley Morganfield, … Continue reading →

March 23, 2017

Backlist Bop: Rockmore, not less

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in american history, music, women's history | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Backlist Bop: Rockmore, not less

You can’t have Women’s History Month without musician-genius Clara Rockmore (left in the photo). The appropriately named Rockmore was a master of the theremin, that haunting/creepy sound-maker that entered our consciousness through 1950s science fiction films, “Good Vibrations,” twentieth-century electronica, and by inspiring the Moog synthesizer. The … Continue reading →

March 1, 2017

Anatomy of a Peggy Seeger classic

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Excerpted from Peggy Seeger: A Life of Music, Love, and Politics, by Jean Freedman Peggy had written some mildly feminist songs, such as “Darling Annie,” about an equal partnership between a man and a woman, and “Nightshift,” about a woman’s … Continue reading →